Libyan officials close to Muamar Gaddafi have contacted the US administration in order to seek an exit from the current crisis. Denis McDonough, a Deputy National Security Advisor for US President, Barack Obama was quoted as saying that the air strikes launched Saturday by US, French and British forces were having an impact on Gaddafi's regime.

"It wouldn't surprise me... given intense pressure that he and his inner circle are under as a result of the remarkable work of our troops, there are some of them reaching out looking for opportunities to get out in the middle of that," McDonough conveyed. A senior US official was also quoted as saying that Libya's Foreign Minister, Mussa Kussa, and Abdullah al-Senussi, Gaddafi's brother-in-law and head of military intelligence, have recently called senior diplomats from the US State Department.

Meanwhile, despite the Western attacks, Gaddafi's tanks rolled back into the town of Misrata under the cover of darkness and began shelling the area near the main hospital, residents and rebels said. A rebel spokesman said Gaddafi's snipers had killed 16 people.

In Tripoli, a blast was heard early on Thursday and smoke could be seen rising from an area where a military base is situated. Libyan officials took media representatives to a local hospital early on Thursday to show them the bodies of 18 military personnel and civilians killed by Western warplanes overnight.